Colin Ford

In what might be worrying news for drinks brands, Gen Z Brits are drinking even less than they were a year ago, according to the latest data from CGA by NIQ.

In February 2025, Christchurch will welcome guests from around the world to an extraordinary celebration of New Zealand Pinot, the country’s leading red grape variety.

Pernod Ricard has sold its international wine brands to Australian Wine Holdco Limited (AWL), a consortium of institutional investors and owner of Accolade Wines.

Brettanomyces bruxellensis (a.k.a. Brett) is considered a spoilage yeast by some winemakers and a resourceful agent of sensory transformation by others. Most wineries agree that Brett takes away from wine quality, but some wineries say they use Brett to add complexity and interest to their red wines [1]. Most winemakers place the highest value on the truest expression of a vineyard and are fierce defenders against Brett’s impact on their products.

Giesen are paving the way in the 0% alcohol category, but it doesn’t stop there. They are continually looking for new methodologies that align to changing consumer considerations while delivering on their operational mandates and corporate social responsibilities – and it is from here they turned to amaea.

New Zealand wine has cultivated and solidified its place on the global stage. Recognised as a benchmark producer for several wine styles, it is a position Kiwi wineries are immensely proud of.

To build on this momentum, New Zealand wine technology company, amaea have partnered with Vintech Pacific Limited to ensure local wineries have unbridled access to its world leading technology.

Perennially, it seems that wines could use a bit more of ‘this’, or a bit less of ‘that’ and the bottling is already on the schedule. Regardless of the size of the winery, having more time for consideration and fine adjustments prior to finishing and bottling would be helpful.

This system extracts the maximum potential from the grapes through the use of high-power, low-frequency ultrasound while helping to mitigate the effects of climate change on the grape ripening lag.

With international companies increasingly snapping up New Zealand vineyards, and Māori communities fighting for their slice of the land, who will inherit the country’s wine trade in years to come?

Such is the global decline in wine consumption, a country like Chile is abandoning vineyards, and in some cases considering removing them altogether, according to Sebastian Labbé, the winemaker for Viña Santa Rita’s finest labels, including Casa Real.